Vacation
by NeteleJala
Summary: ONE-SHOT. Mick and Beth's honeymoon. The pair gets into a rather tight spot and Josef has to come save the day.


Okay, I'm not going to give this much of an introduction. I want it to explain itself, but I apologize for the sporadic nature of this story, but I had so much to fit into this that I had to jump around a lot.

Thanks to my beta silvanelf!

I don't own Moonlight or any of its characters. Rated PG-13

Enjoy!!

* * *

**Vacation**

_How the hell did we get here?_ Mick thought. He knew perfectly well, but he still couldn't believe that he was setting in the cramped confines of a small cell in a foreign country, no less.

_This is not going to be good._ Mick looked over at Beth's shivering form. _Well, if I had to do it all over again, I don't know if I'd change a thing. Except for the getting caught part…_

* * *

_A Month Earlier…_

"Come on, Mick! We have to decide on a place to go for our honeymoon," Beth pleaded with him. So far he was being less then helpful in their wedding decisions.

"What? Now I get a say?" Mick asked.

Beth crossed her arms and started at him. "Of course you get a say. It's your honeymoon too!"

"Well in that case…Why don't we just spend it here, in _our_ bedroom?" Mick suggested, a wolfish grin on his face. Beth laughed as he attacked her, pinning her to the bed.

"As nice as that sounds, don't you want to get away? We have the rest of eternity to spend here." _Eternity…_ Beth's spine tingled when she thought about it that way. _I'm going to be around for the rest of eternity and I'm going to be with Mick!_ Life couldn't get better-well, undead life, that is.

* * *

A couple of hours later, when Beth was laying content in Mick's arms she decided to bring up the subject again. "Come on Mick, there has to be somewhere you want to go? How about Europe?"

"Seen it. World War II, remember? I don't want to relive those memories on our honeymoon."

Beth smiled to herself. _Sometimes it was easy to forget how old Mick was._ "Okay, what about the Caribbean or Hawaii?"

Mick propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her. "Yeah, Beth. Because vampires and the tropical sun mix so well."

Beth's smile faded. She had forgotten about that. _Well, damn, that rules out most common honeymoon destinations. And what about accommodations?...How do we find a hotel with a human size freezer, in room? Not to mention blood?_

As the numerous problems of vampire travel started to overwhelm her, Mick placed a soothing hand on her back. "If anyone can figure out this problem, it's you. I have faith that you can find a place for us to go and as long as I'm with you, I don't care."

Beth smiled and kissed him softly, then she untangled herself from him and went to go find her clothes. She had to do some research…

* * *

Mick entered his apartment to find an ecstatic Beth. "I found it Mick. The perfect place!"

Mick smiled and set down his coat and hat. "I'm listening."

"Hammerfest, Norway."

"Where?"

"Norway. Northern European country. Hammerfest is the Northernmost town. It is in the artic circle so during Christmas week the sun won't even rise! We can go out any time we want _and_ the temperature is a cool negative five degrees Celsius."

Mick stared at her openmouthed. _Actually, as a vampire, that sounded really nice._

"And the best part is that there is a small cottage for rent, just outside of town, near the coast. It will offer us some privacy, but we'll still be near civilization."

"Sounds wonderful, Beth, but what about travel? Remember, I can't get a passport because no one is going to believe that I'm eighty five."

Beth smiled, she had hoped he would ask. "I called Josef. He knows people. He was able to get us two—absolutely legal—passports and medical documents stating that we needed to be allowed to carry human blood on the plane with us. He also gave me the number of the local blood bank, so that we could stock-up on supplies when we got there."

Beth enthusiasm was rubbing off on him. He couldn't help smiling. She really had found the solution to a problem that had been plaguing him for years.

"Okay, let's do it."

"Good. Because I already put a deposit on the place and reserved our tickets."

* * *

Mick and Beth stepped off the small plane. The last leg had been rough, but they had had the plane to themselves. Apparently, the pilot explained, not many people wanted to spend the winter in Hammerfast. The perpetual darkness drove most of the residents out, but there were always a few daring people. The pilot had observed that the same people would come every year for a few months. Mick and Beth smiled to themselves, knowing full well that those other brave few were, like them, vampires.

Mick was surprised to find that the local time was just about noon. He could see the sun just below the horizon. "Okay, Beth. I have to admit, this is pretty neat," Mick said, hugging Beth to his side.

"Told you so."

After finding their rental car and storing all their luggage in the tiny trunk, they headed for the house they had rented. After many wrong turns and few go arounds in the roundabouts, they made it to the cabin.

The place was cute and homey, which translated into small. Mick hit his head on the cross beam of the doorframe walking into the house. Beth laughed at him, but kissed it better. Mick didn't need much more persuasion to swing Beth over his shoulder and carry her to the bedroom.

* * *

Much later, after they had finished their remaining blood packets, Mick and Beth decided that a trip to town would be nice. The cold night air invigorated the two vamps as they made their way to the hospital. Josef's contact was good to his word and set them up with a week's supply of blood, half price. Mick suspected Josef had something to do with that, but he didn't let it worry him. He was on his honeymoon with the most amazing woman he'd ever met.

"You know what I want to do?" Beth asked as the drove back to their cabin.

"What?" Mick asked tenderly.

"I want to go sunbathing." Mick looked at her like she was crazy. She could sense the fear rolling of him. "What's the matter, Mick?"

"What do you mean, what's the matter? You make a suicidal comment like that and you don't expect me to be a little worried?"

"Oh no. No, no, no. I'm sorry, honey. I didn't think about how it sounded. I'm still getting used to vampire terminology. What I meant is that I want to go…I guess, moonbathing."

Relief flooded over Mick and he grabbed Beth's hand kissing it as he drove. 'Don't ever scare me like that again. For a moment there…"

"I know. I'll try and watch my words in the future. But what do you think about the idea of moonbathing?"

"Sounds fun. But I don't have a pair of swim trunks. I haven't owned one in years."

Beth grinned wickedly. "That's okay. I was thinking of going nude."

"What?! Won't you get cold? The weather report said it was seven below Celsius!"

"Come on, Mick. You sleep in your freezer naked. How is this any different?"

* * *

Mick and Beth had settled themselves outside of their private cottage on a pair of lounge chairs they pulled from the house. Mick lay back and relaxed, gazing up at the stars. The sky was crystal clear and with his vampire sight he could see all the stars.

Mick and Beth lay side by side, looking up at the night sky, chatting about life. Beth even got Mick to retell some of his childhood stories, about the toys he had and what it was like to live through the Great Depression.

Beth was telling Mick about learning to ride a horse when a flashlight shined on them from the road and a gruff voice started talking to them angrily in Norwegian.

Mick and Beth looked at each other trying to figure out what the man was saying. Finally, the man lowered the flashlight enough for them to make out the outline of a police car.

_Shit…_

* * *

Hours later Mick and Beth sat next to each other on the hard concrete bench. They had been through the long process of being brought in, interrogated and booked. They had been arrested for public nudity. _Who gets arrested for public nudity at the North Pole? Vampires that's who._ Mick looked at Beth's shivering form.

"That's enough, Beth," Mick whispered. "You overdoing it."

Beth stopped pretending to shiver and looked at him. "How am I supposed to know? This whole pretending to be human thing is kinda new to me. I've never paid attention to how long I shiver."

"Yeah, well, get used to it. We might have to pretend we're human for a lot longer," Mick snarked back at her. The prospect of being stuck in jail had made him snippety.

"Don't you use that tone with me! This is your fault."

"My fault? MY FAULT?! How is this my fault? Let's review the facts. One, you suggested to go moonlight bathing. Two, you suggested coming here in the first place. And three, you rented a place that was on public land and right along the highway patrolman's route."

"You agreed to all those ideas and you were the one who suggested we drag the chairs out front by the side of the road!"

"Yeah, because it's like he wouldn't have seen us if we went with your idea of going down to the beach!"

"Yeah, well, if you could have explained to the officer that we didn't mean to offend anyone, instead of yelling at him, we wouldn't be here!"

"What? Now I'm supposed to speak Norwegian? And he was gawking at my wife. I had a few things to say about that…"

"How old are you? Don't you know even one European language? And he was not gawking."

"Yes, I know English. And he was too gawking. Pointing the light directly at your breast is considered gawking and don't tell me you didn't hear the spike in his pulse."

"What an arrogant American you are! You couldn't be bothered to learn another language?"

"And what about you, Miss High and Mighty? Can you speak any other languages? Guess not or we wouldn't be here."

"That's Mrs. High and Mighty. You married me, remember?"

"Oh, soooooorry. I was just using a stock saying, but if we're going to start picking out grammar faux pas…"

The argument continued quietly between the two. They didn't even notice as another person entered the room, observing them intently. It wasn't until the mysterious person spoke up that Mick or Beth even took notice of him.

"Wow, This show was worth the flight."

Finally, Beth looked over Mick's shoulder and at the laughing vampire who stood just outside the cell. "Josef?"

"Of course Blondie. Who else would Mick call to get him out of jail?" Josef responded. He eyed Mick and Beth's clothing. The prison garb the police had given them when they were booked made the whole scene that much more funny. "Please continue."

Mick turned around to face Josef and glared at him. "Just get us out of here, Josef."

"Sorry, Mick, but public nudity is a high crime and I'm afraid even my presence will not save you." Josef said in all seriousness. Mick and Beth gaped at him and he finally broke down laughing, after a little bit, they joined him.

"I really had you going. Of course public nudity is a misdemeanor. I could have fixed the whole thing from my desk in LA," Josef laughed.

"Then why did you come all this way?" Beth asked, shocked that Josef would make the extra long flight because of them.

"I wanted to see you two behind bars, naked. But since they gave you clothes I was denied that. I also wanted to leave you in limbo for a little while longer."

"A little while?! Josef, it took you nearly a whole day to get here. We have been sitting here needlessly?" Beth stormed over towards Josef.

"Easy there, Blondie. It's not like a day matters in the grand scheme of things. You're going to be around to see a lot more of them. And besides, now you have a memory to treasure for a lifetime, or laugh over."

"The only moment of this I will treasure, will be the one where I snap your neck," Beth hissed under her breath.

"Always the feisty one, aren't you. Well, let's see how you like it in there. All I have to do is tell the guard I have no clue who you are."

"You wouldn't!" A wolfish grin spread across Josef's face and Beth's face fell.

"Konduktør! Utvungen de," Josef said in flawless Norwegian. Beth and Mick looked at each other. A guard came down the hallway and proceeded to open the cell door, motioning for Mick and Beth to exit. "Takk'" Josef said to the guard and they all walked down the hallway. Josef presented Mick and Beth with a set of their own clothes and they were shown to private rooms where they could change.

Once free of the police station, Josef escorted them to his rented car and they drove back to the cabin. After a long length of silence, Beth finally said, "Thanks, Josef."

Josef smiled at her. "You're welcome. You know I would come to save you and Mick anywhere. I owe it to Mick. He's saved my ass a few times."

Mick smiled as he remembered some of the scrapes he'd helped Josef avoid. The atmosphere became friendly and the three talked about their vacation so far.

"So I have to know, why public nudity? The cops were fixated on it. They didn't ask questions about your release, only 'Why?'" Josef asked.

Mick and Beth would have blushed, if they could, but Josef sensed their shame all the same. "We were moonbathing," Beth explained.

"Moonbathing?"

"Yes, moonbathing. In the artic circle in the middle of winter," Beth said.

"Actually, it was quite nice, until the cop shone that light in our face," Mick added.

"So you were moonbathing, nude, on public domain?" Josef clarified.

"Yep."

"Has anyone told you, you're insane?"

"Actually, I don't speak Norwegian, but I think that's the gist of what the cop who arrested us was rattling on about,' Mick said.

* * *

"Okay…This is nice," Josef said as he laid out on a chair next to Mick and Beth.

"Told you so," Mick and Beth said in unison.

Mick looked over at Josef. "What are you wearing sunglasses for?!"

"Mick, it's nearly noon. I don't want the dawn light hurting my eyes. Besides, you're supposed to wear sunglasses when sunbathing, so why not when moonbathing?"

"Because then they would be moonglasses. Back me up on this Beth, " Mick looked over to Beth, who was also wearing a pair of sunglasses.

"What? Everyone knows sunglasses are instrumental in moonbathing," Beth said. Beth and Josef could hardly keep a straight face and they finally broke down laughing as Mick looked between the both of them. Mick smiled and laughed with them. That's when they first heard the siren.

* * *

"Well, that was fun," Josef said. Mick and Beth glared at him. For the second time that day, they were sitting on the hard concrete bench of the local jail. "Fine, be a spoil sport, but we're going to have some great stories to tell."

"That's all fine and good, Josef, but who are we going to call now?"

* * *

Questions, comments, review?


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